November 2verifiedThis page has been verified with a close reading. It should read in natural hagiographic English.
LIVES OF THE SAINTS
1. Holy Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Anempodistus, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus and others with them
They were Christians from Persia; they suffered in the time of King Sapor (Shapur) in the year 355. The first three were servants at the court of that same king, but secretly they served Christ their Lord. When they were accused and brought to trial before the king, the king asked them, whence were they? To this they replied: "Our homeland and our life is the Most Holy Trinity, consubstantial and undivided, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one God." The king subjected them to great torments, but they endured all heroically with psalmody and prayer on their lips. During their torture and imprisonment, the angels of God appeared to them many times, and once the Lord Christ Himself appeared as a man "with a face bright as the sun." When one of the torturers, Aphthonius, saw the miracle of how boiling lead did not harm the martyrs, he believed in Christ and cried out: "Great is the God of the Christians!" For this he was immediately beheaded. And many others saw and believed. Then the king commanded that Acindynus, Pegasius, and Anempodistus be sewn into leather sacks and cast into the sea. But Saint Aphthonius appeared from the other world with three bright angels, brought the holy martyrs to dry land, and freed them. Elpidephorus was a nobleman of the king. When he declared that he was a Christian and reproached the king for killing innocent Christians, the king condemned him to death. And Elpidephorus was beheaded along with about seven thousand other Christians with him. And those first three martyrs were finally cast into a fiery furnace with twenty-eight soldiers and with the king's mother, after these also believed in Christ; and thus in the flames they committed their righteous souls into the hands of their Lord.
2. Venerable Marcian of Cyrrhus
Marcian was from the city of Cyrrhus in Syria. He was distinguished both by nobility of birth and by beauty of body. He left all for Christ's sake and withdrew to the desert of Chalcis for the ascetic struggle as a hermit. He was a contemporary of Patriarch Flavian of Antioch and of the emperors Constantius and Valens. In his cell at night a divine light shone, by which he read Holy Scripture, and he never had need of any other light. He was a great wonderworker both during his life and after his death. Before his death he commanded his disciple Eusebius to hide his body and bury it secretly, because of his many admirers. He reposed in the Lord in the year 387.
3. Hieromartyr Victorinus, Bishop of Pettau
Many hold that he was Slavic by origin. Blessed Jerome praises him as a man learned and pious. He knew Greek better than Latin. He wrote commentaries on several books of the Old and New Testaments. He suffered for the Christian Faith around the year 303.
HYMN OF PRAISE
The martyr Acindynus and with him Pegasius Brave Anempodistus and with him Aphthonius And the royal nobleman Elpidephorus the gentle— All sacrificial lambs, snow-white lambs. They declared themselves servants of the Most Holy Trinity And manifested Christ to Sapor face to face. Martyrdom for them was as a feast Christ was dearer to them than youth and health Christ was dearer to them than all courtly pleasures Christ was dearer to them than royal honors. All that the world gave them they gave for Christ Noble victims they fell for Christ They fell in shame, they rose in glory They fell to earth, they rose to Paradise. For the Church on earth they poured out their blood Into the Church in heaven they built their souls. Full of love toward the Christian race Now they pray to the risen Christ That He preserve the Church on earth from affliction And that He lead her to the final victory.
REFLECTION
How can one rise to love for his enemies who has violated love for his parents? Love for parents is the chief and fundamental school of love. Without this school one does not go further. Dragutin, king of Serbia, rose with an army against his father in order to sit upon his father's throne. But it happened afterward that he broke his leg, and this awakened his conscience, which with its gnawing did not leave him in peace until death. Dragutin withdrew from the throne and yielded power to his younger brother Milutin, began to distribute alms widely, to build churches, and to do other good works. Besides this, he also struggled ascetically in secret. He was girded with a reed upon his naked body, clothed in coarse sackcloth, and prayed to God at night in a secretly dug grave. And all this the penitent king did only that God might forgive him the sin of lack of love toward his parent. And God forgave him. Many holy martyrs joyfully received their executioners who came seeking them, and entertained them in their homes while they prepared themselves for death. To entertain one's murderers, is this not an expression of great love for one's enemies? When King Sapor was cruelly torturing Saints Acindynus, Pegasius, and the others with them, he suddenly became enraged and was struck dumb, and could not speak, and beat himself in the face from his great fury. Seeing his torturer in such despair, Saint Acindynus wept, prayed to God for the king, and said: "In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, speak!" And the king's tongue was loosed and he began to speak. Behold an example of true love for one's enemy!
CONTEMPLATION
Contemplate the wondrous power of apostolic speech (Acts 16), namely:
1. How a certain slave girl with an unclean spirit of divination cried out after Paul and Silas; 2. How Paul turned and said to the spirit: "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her!"; 3. How the unclean spirit came out of the slave girl in that very hour.
HOMILY
on the will of God that all Christians be saints
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4)
The one Church teaches and shows that first there was a plan for the world, and then the world was created. That plan was in the wisdom and will and power of God. In that plan are we Christians as the Church of God. God, according to that plan, chose us before the foundation of the world for holiness and righteousness in love. God chose us beforehand and adopted us as sons through Him—through Whom? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. For all that we are to God, we are all that through Jesus Christ. And apart from Jesus Christ man has no connection, no relationship, no kinship with God. And our election and adoption as sons, therefore, was through our Lord Jesus Christ. He chose us, His holy Church, according to the good pleasure of His will, just as He once chose Israel from among all the nations of the earth. Let no one say: this divine election destroys man's free will, so that neither does the Christian have merit for being a Christian nor is the unbeliever worthy of condemnation for being an unbeliever. No; this is a completely mistaken interpretation. For God also chose Israel once, yet some in Israel perished and some were saved. He chose His holy Church, calling into Her all nations and all people. But whether and which of the chosen and called will be saved depends not only on God's election but also on human will and effort.
O Eternal God, our Creator, Who didst choose us for salvation before Thou hadst created us, have mercy on us and save us. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.